Oncologists Start Using VR For Detecting Tumors

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The future looks brighter as technology is not only about being on trend but is now being used to save lives. With the use of the virtual reality (VR), the Cancer Research U.K. Cambridge Institute aims to assist oncologists and other researchers to easily detect tumors.

In an interview with Digital Trends, Greg Hannon, one of the head researchers of the project, shared that the process of detecting and studying tumors is very crucial and using only a microscope would be tricky. Hannon also shared that they wanted to speed up the process and at the same time, they also wanted to garner richer information up to the genetic make up of the tumors.

The idea of using the virtual reality technology is actually pretty new to Hannon. He admitted that he only started the project with the idea of only using 3D projectors. However, he met an app developer who then introduced the idea of virtual reality which truly fascinated him. He then became in contact with Owen Harris, another app and game developer, and there came this fascinating medical innovation.

Virtual reality is making a lot of noise these days and introducing it to the world of medical science is also not that new. As published in the Medical Science Monitor : International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research journal in 2014, a group of Chinese scientists from the Department of Orthopedics in Huashan Hospital of Fudan University based in Shanghai studied about using Dextroscope three-dimensional (3D) imaging and virtual reality for orthopedic surgery.

In the said journal article, it was noted that virtual realitywas able to approximate the size of the periarticular tumor from the actual size. Despite the key findings, the researchers of the said breakthrough also admitted that it will still need more refinements so that virtual reality can also be used in other tumors.

Just like the team of Chinese scientists, Hannon also believed that it will still take months before they can finally test their virtual reality prototype. He also admitted that it's really tricky as their team are estimating different sizes of tumors which were never measured before.